What Are Your Weird Travel Quirks?

Liz, from travel blog Young Adventuress (you can read my interview with her here), asked an interesting question on Facebook recently. It was an open call for people to confess their weird travel quirks. The responses ranged from cute (Liz admitted to needing three pillows to sleep comfortably) to kind of crazy (but I guess we all have a little crazy in us, right?).

Anyway, it got me thinking. I don’t think I’m a high-maintenance traveler (carrying your life in your backpack for a month will have you quickly reevaluating your need for a flat iron and cute shoes). But I definitely have my “things.” Here they are, world; my weird travel quirks:

I won’t walk barefoot on hotel room carpets. Obviously, this makes no sense, because I’ll walk on the bathroom floor in bare feet (you can’t exactly wear socks in the shower). But it’s this weird thing I have where I think it might be easier to run a mop over that tile floor than to steam clean the carpet after every guest. Because vacuuming just won’t cut it. Clearly, I just give in to the weird on this one and disregard all rational thinking when it comes to hotel room carpets.

I will try to avoid contact between my head and an airplane seat at all costs. You might say, but what do you do on long flights? What if you’re on a red eye? Well, that is what my hoodie is for. That’s right; I sure do pull that hood over my head and pull those strings tight. I have no problem being that-weirdo-on-the-plane-who-everyone-talks-about. I’m also realizing that I might have a teensy germ phobia. But the idea of the thousands of greasy heads that rested on that seat before me skeeves me out. Big time. I’ve also perfected resting my chin on my hand, when my elbow is on the armrest. This really only has a shot at working if you’re in the window seat, or are traveling with someone you know sitting next to you. And expect to wake up every five minutes as your head slips off its perch. This is definitely my most inconvenient quirk. But hey, these idiosyncrasies are what make us special, right?

I have a paralyzing fear of losing my hotel key. Now, you might say, “well, that’s just smart!” But losing my key is a constant worry; it’s always lurking in the back of my mind. As in, I’ll repeatedly grab the key in my purse throughout the day to make sure it hasn’t fallen out or been stolen by the mysterious hotel-key-only thief. This single-minded focus can sometimes prevent me from fully enjoying what I’m doing/seeing, and that’s annoying.

I like to get to the airport crazy-early. Again, this quirk might seem like a good idea. But it can be annoying, especially because I live in a city where there’s almost never a long security line to get through. Still, once I get through the x-rays, I usually find myself with hours to kill in an airport with not much going on (you can only browse around in Hudson News for so long). This is the quirk I’m trying hardest to overcome. Maybe for my next trip I’ll live on the edge and arrive at the airport with less than an hour until my flight. Or…maybe not.

Let me know I’m not alone. What are your weird travel quirks?

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